1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to the distribution of interrelated illustrations and items of text data, to the preparation of such illustrations and items of text data for reproduction by user-operated electronic equipment, to records of interrelated illustrations and items of text data fixed in tangible media for reproduction by user-operated electronic equipment, to electronic systems for retrieving interrelated illustrations and items of test data in a correlated manner, and to electronic publishing systems in general.
2. Description of the Related Art (including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97-1.99)
Printed texts have been published in book form for hundreds of years. Various manuals and other publications typically contain illustrations along with related texts.
Since no special equipment is needed to derive information from conventional books, that form of publishing texts and illustrations is still very popular, despite the advent and development of electronic data handling and processing systems. However, a fundamental simplicity gives way to complexity, when large amounts of data are to be published, and particularly when various individual items are to be looked up frequently in immense data listings. Complexities arising in this respect are easily appreciated by frequent users of illustrated parts manuals, and also by those who have to rely on an index in order to locate text passages and illustrations in larger books.
Also, if the number of items of illustration or text data is large, publication in book form tends to produce bulky volumes which by their size, weight and number render their use rather tiresome.
Increasing paper cost and shortage have aggravated the problem in recent years, and are limiting publication in many areas to manuals and similar books that wear rapidly in intensive use and that become easily defective and even unusable through ordinary wear and tear.
Microfilm systems considerably reduce bulk and required storage space, but are not easily accessed for most practical applications. Microfiche systems generally are superior in this respect and are particularly well adapted to use with computer output microfilm (COM) apparatus. For instance, COM-generated illustrations or photographs of illustrations may be provided in conjunction with COM-generated text from magnetic tape or other recording media.
Mentioned in this connection may be the Automated Technical Publishing System of Bell & Howell Company, which provides computer-generated text and graphics on hard copy, microfilm, and microfiche from illustrations with the aid of a photodiode scanner, text supplied through a word processor, and input materials supplied on magnetic tape containing text data and standard copymark coding and graphics callout data, and hard copy illustrations and/or a tape of computer aided drawings which are identified to correspond to the callouts in the text tape.
Reference may also be had to the Data Base Micropublishing system by Bell & Howell Company, in which text information is entered into a computer through a keyboard, and is composed by line and page for output. That procedure also involves indexing the data and cross-referencing text and illustrations and their microfiche frame location, as well as listing illustration filming instructions and Composing Reduction Printer control instructions.
Text and illustration data thus composed are applied to a computer output microfilm unit which creates a 35 mm microfilm for that application. Pertinent illustrations are filmed separately in sequence and are also produced on 35 mm microfilm. The text and illustrations are then composed by the Composing Reduction Printer to create microfiche masters.
Such largely automated systems have been reducing publishing costs considerably. However, microfiche systems reach their limit when the volume of data and illustrations becomes very large. In that kind of situation, many people find the retrieval of information through microfiche viewers tiresome.
Also, some users have a tendency of scratching or otherwise damaging the microfiche, and of misplacing items in a microfiche collection, which makes it hard for other users.
Prior-art electronic data storage, retrieval and display systems have not sufficiently duplicated the purpose and utility of manuals, microfiche systems and similar publications for many tasks and purposes. This applies also to the various PC (personal computer) type of display products that have recently appeared on the market.
In modern publishing methods, including photocomposition, prepress text and illustrations are separately stored for the compositor or galley makers. Typically, corresponding illustrations are identified in the textual tape or record. Similar approaches have been employed in computer output microfilm (COM) systems.
However, none of these approaches so far has been capable of effectively linking items of text data to corresponding items or details of illustration, in a readily retrievable manner and optionally without the need of keyboards and other devices that presuppose knowledge or individual retrieval of voluminous identification codes or call numbers.
A recent example of an image storage and retrieval system is apparent from U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,206, by John M. Smutek et al, issued Nov. 12, 1985, and disclosing a technique for organizing digitized information for storage in a relational type tree memory structure. A header is utilized which identifies a text or image and details of how the image was digitized and compressed. An index contains the image or text identity and identifies the locations throughout memory at which the blocks containing the text or image information are stored. Each header has the address of any other block containing related information, thereby permitting chaining between blocks. Selective insertion of related data or images into subfields of displayed images and the use of data contained in subfields as keys to locate and display further related information are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,875, by Herman J. R. Schmitz, issued Feb. 19, 1985, discloses apparatus for displaying digital information incorporating selection of picture pages and/or resolution enhancement.